Interior Designer (and Bygone Bastion of Good Taste) Mica Ertegun’s Personal Collection Goes to Christie’s

“Ahmet and Mica Ertegun are comets in the peopled New York sky. Flashing on their own trajectory, they leave a trail of sparks behind, sparks they strike by themselves, from other people, or simply out of the atmosphere,” wrote Polly Devlin in an article showcasing the Erteguns’ New York apartment in Vogue’s August 1969 feature. Decades after Devlin introduced Vogue readers to their starry, handsome lives—both hoisted themselves to the highest echelons of art, design, and music as sought-after tastemakers—the late power couple left a legacy of their famously good taste. And now, a slice of it is now up for auction at Christie’s. The sale, Mica: The Collection of Mica Ertegun, begins on November 19 with the Erteguns’ collection of art and will continue with jewelry, design, and decorative arts on December 10 in New York and December 13 in Paris.

“The Collection itself is fascinating because it contains the rarest and most valuable masterpieces, from Magritte’s magnum opus to the glorious paintings of Hockney, Picasso, and other famous artists. But the delight is the vast array that any of us could live with and be transported to the dreamiest versions of human dwelling!,” says Marc Porter, chairman of Christie’s Americas.

Among the lots are L’empire des lumières, 1960 by René Magritte, which was purchased by the Erteguns in 1968 and is being called out as one of the stand-out works—the auction house predicts the sale price will be an all-time-high for Magritte. There’s also David Hockney’s Still Life on a Glass Table, 1971; Patrick Henry Bruce’s Peinture/Nature Morte, 1928; and Jack Youngerman’s August White, 1967. The latter can be spotted in the images accompanying Devlin’s profile, hanging in the living room of the couple’s Manhattan townhouse in the background of a striking portrait of the Romanian-born Mica, photographed by Horst. P. Horst.